NFL owners approve game in Brazil for 2024 (5 total: 3 London/1 Germany/1 Brazil)

[BigDingus]

4 minutes ago, mannc said:

I'll tell you one problem with Mexico City and that's the altitude.  It's 2000 feet higher than Denver.  I have a home there and I can tell you, I have a hard time breathing my first few days in the city.  Not everyone is affected the same way, but I bet some players would have problems with it.  I'm sure kickers would like it...

 

I totally forgot about that! Yeah, I'm sure that's a difficult adjustment, though they host plenty of other sports there. 

 

The NFL is demanding though, and that could certainly be a reason players don't want to go there. 

[mannc]

5 minutes ago, BigDingus said:

 

I totally forgot about that! Yeah, I'm sure that's a difficult adjustment, though they host plenty of other sports there. 

 

The NFL is demanding though, and that could certainly be a reason players don't want to go there. 

I'm also not sure how big of a following the NFL really has in Mexico.  I have a few friends there who follow particular teams (especially the Steelers) but even in Mexico City it can be pretty hard to find a sports bar showing any NFL games on a Sunday.  It's different in tourist places like Cancun and Cabo where there are lots of North American visitors...   

[LABILLBACKER]

5 hours ago, Irv said:

I've banned Brazil. I went.  It was a horribly long flight, dangerous, and filthy.  Não adianta.  

Fire em.

[chongli]

2 hours ago, mannc said:

I'll tell you one problem with Mexico City and that's the altitude.  It's 2000 feet higher than Denver.  I have a home there and I can tell you, I have a hard time breathing my first few days in the city.  Not everyone is affected the same way, but I bet some players would have problems with it.  I'm sure kickers would like it...

 

Then make Denver go there!

1 hour ago, mannc said:

I'm also not sure how big of a following the NFL really has in Mexico.  I have a few friends there who follow particular teams (especially the Steelers) but even in Mexico City it can be pretty hard to find a sports bar showing any NFL games on a Sunday.  It's different in tourist places like Cancun and Cabo where there are lots of North American visitors...   

 

Big enough so they are showing eight NFL games a week there. For example:

 

Week 15 for Mexico:

 

Thursday: Chargers @ Raiders (Fox Sports)

Sun Noon: Chiefs @ Patriots (Fox Sports), Jets @ Dolphins (Fox Sports 2)

Sun 3PM: Cowboys @ Bills (Nueve), 49ers @ Cardinals (Fox Sports), Commanders @ Rams (Fox Sports 2)

Sun Night: Ravens @ Jaguars (ESPN)

Monday: Eagles @ Seahawks (ESPN)

 

Mexico has a ton of American ex-pats and partiers (and fugitives).

Edited December 14, 2023 by chongli

[TBBills Fan]

On 12/12/2023 at 6:14 PM, nedboy7 said:

When 163 Billion is not enough........

 

But they can't employ full time refs. 

 

 

Or pay for real grass

[chongli]

Nothing new, just some tidbits I found:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Beck Water]

I kind of feel as though the Commissioner is engaged in a real-life version of the story of the farmer who helped his pocketbook by cutting the food his horse got every day.  He cut it day by day until just when he got the horse down to eating nothing, the damned horse died.

 

American fans love football for one or another reason (tradition, the mental chess match aspect, the physicality).

 

Outside the US, football means the game we call soccer.

 

For the sake of short term boosts in the bottom line, Goodell is taking more and more football away from the lifeblood that feeds it, the American fans who love the game.

[chongli]

3 hours ago, WhoTom said:

 

https://www.marca.com/en/nfl/2023/10/18/652f471122601d0a658b4583.html

 

 

Good read. I hadn't known about why the NFL wasn't going to Mexico City.

 

For those who didn't click:

 

"NFL explains 2024 game absence in Mexico City and announces new host countries"
 

"Mexico, especially Mexico City's iconic Estadio Azteca, holds a special place in the NFL's international circuit. This legendary stadium has witnessed NFL regular-season games in 2005, 2016, 2017, 2019, and most recently in 2022. However, fans looking forward to experiencing the thrilling spectacle of American football in Mexico will have to have a bit more patience. The hiatus is due to the ongoing renovations at Estadio Azteca, which won't be completed in time for the 2024 season. However, it's not a final goodbye. With renovations expected to wrap up by the following year, the NFL has indicated the potential return of the sport to Mexico City in 2025."

 

And some tweets from that article:

 

From this past summer:

 

 

From September:

 

[But there's only going to be one regular season game in Germany next year. Maybe pre-season too? 
Or the article is wrong.]

9 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

I kind of feel as though the Commissioner is engaged in a real-life version of the story of the farmer who helped his pocketbook by cutting the food his horse got every day.  He cut it day by day until just when he got the horse down to eating nothing, the damned horse died.

 

American fans love football for one or another reason (tradition, the mental chess match aspect, the physicality).

 

Outside the US, football means the game we call soccer.

 

For the sake of short term boosts in the bottom line, Goodell is taking more and more football away from the lifeblood that feeds it, the American fans who love the game.

 

Good analogy. Or, another way to put it: "penny-wise but pound foolish".

Edited December 14, 2023 by chongli

[ChrisWatson#21]

Insatiable greed.  Intercontinental games and now the sports gambling epidemic they are squeezing all lemons dry.  

[WhoTom]

13 hours ago, Beck Water said:

I kind of feel as though the Commissioner is engaged in a real-life version of the story of the farmer who helped his pocketbook by cutting the food his horse got every day.  He cut it day by day until just when he got the horse down to eating nothing, the damned horse died.

For the sake of short term boosts in the bottom line, Goodell is taking more and more football away from the lifeblood that feeds it, the American fans who love the game.

 

Short-term profit over long-term viability is what corporate America is about these days. The executives play the game, get raises and fat bonuses for increasing the company's stock value, and then move on before everything collapses. Along the way, the product's quality decreases and the customer suffers.

 

 

[nedboy7]

I need a Nueve subscription now?  I pay like 3k a month to watch TV. 

[chongli]

1 hour ago, nedboy7 said:

I need a Nueve subscription now?  I pay like 3k a month to watch TV. 

 

Nueve is free in Mexico, but you do need an afizzionados subscription. It televises a game a week in Mexico.

 

 

This week they are showing Tampa Bay at Green Bay.

 

It' now only $2.45 USD a month (regularly $6.95 USD a month).

 

https://www.izzi.mx/afizzionados

 

Oh, and in case anyone is interested, here is the NFL Brazil broadcasts this week:

 

 

Edited December 14, 2023 by chongli

[chongli]

Jerry Jones said on Wednesday that he does not want to give up a home game for Brazil, as he prefers to instead wait until 2025 to play in Mexico despite only having eight home games in 2025.  But he is willing to play an away game internationally in 2024. He reiterated that he does not want to give up any home games at all if he had his way since the Cowboys have the highest home attendance in the NFL.

 

https://www.dallascowboys.com/news/jerry-jones-has-preferred-int-l-destination-for-cowboys

 

"However, one location that does drive interest within Jones is Mexico where the Cowboys' organization has a large amount of fans that drive revenue both abroad and back in Texas.

 

"When we aren't playing here, I want to be in Mexico City," he said. "Period. Mexico City is good and close. If I'm going international, I want to play in Mexico City. Mainly because of our fans and our following and the affinity that we get here back home in the United States."

 

"When we go there on any basis, we increase the affinity for the Cowboys with our hispanic fan base in the United States. That's where we want to be."

 

Jones also left the door open to being a visiting team for an international game, but the league has not scheduled the Cowboys abroad since their lone game overseas in London back in November 2014 when Jacksonville was the home team."

[Big Turk]

NFL is starting to go crazy with these international games.  

[chongli]

On 12/13/2023 at 5:33 PM, chongli said:

 

 

Based on this chart, the following teams 12 have never surrendered a home game to play in the International Series:

 

AFC:

Baltimore

Pittsburgh

Houston

Indianapolis

Denver

 

NFC:

New York Giants (actually "visitors" in 2007 despite what the chart said)

Philadelphia

Washinton

Chicago

Detroit

Carolina

Seattle

 

[Punching Bag]

I hope NFL requires field fixed; the field was so bad that if that was a domestic game there would pressure on home team to correct it.

[GunnerBill]

It isn't an expanded number on this year, just a switch of one Germany game to Brazil. I am slightly surprised by that. Thought they'd want to tick the overall number up because I think the plan is that eventually everyone's 17th game will be a neutral game. 

[machine gun kelly]

I expected this to happen, but what concerns me more is the nature of the fields in these international games.  This year in London was a joke.  I don’t want to see needless injuries, because they don’t want to ruin their soccer fields.

[DaggersEOD]

On 12/12/2023 at 5:16 PM, MikePJ76 said:

whatever.  Which fanbase has to lose a home game for this nonsense.

 

Why do Billionaires always need more money?

Inflation

[sherpa]

On 12/13/2023 at 1:37 PM, Irv said:

 

I went to a place named Campinas.  Every building had graffiti.  The porches/balconies on every apartment building unit had chain link fence covering them to prevent break-in's.    The airport had two terminals.  Only one was completed.  The builders ran off with the money for the other second terminal.   I was told not to wear my watch if I went outside and to never leave the hotel at night.   It was like being in a minimum-security prison.  They're big into steaks down there. Every one I tried to choke down had whip marks on it where the jockey was hitting it.   Never again.    

 

 

 

Sao Paulo is a massive city. The biggest I've ever seen.

Flew there three times per month about ten months of every year for seven years.

(I had a business partner in Ascuncion, Paraguay and the trip was Miami-Sao Paulo, next day to Asuncion and back, fdourth day Sao Paulo-Miami).

I stayed there so often I kept a keyboard with headphones at the hotel so I could practice. They'd give it to me when I checked in and store it between trips. 

 

We stayed in the Jardines district. Nice area.

You just have to be very careful if you get far away from major commercial areas.

You absolutely do not want to challenge customs or police authorities. They are remarkably void of any sense of humor.

I've got a story about that. Not me, but another captain. Cost him $18,000 to stay out of jail and was thrown out before ever getting through immigration.

 

Food is pretty good if you know where to go. Good sushi. I really like acai, and it's inexpensive there.

Good metro system, but you have to be careful.

Things to remember:

Their laws, their police, their courts, their jails. Don't challenge that.

There is no "incidental contact." If someone is touching you, you are about to be or probably are being robbed. Always stay away from contact.

Eight hour flight from Miami. 50 mins to town from airport on the good days. I would never consider driving it.

It's not like European cities regarding English. 

[The Frankish Reich]

On 12/12/2023 at 3:22 PM, Mr. WEO said:

more like "incomplete" Jesus

Well played.

[chongli]

Some thoughts from Peter King's new FMIA column:

 

 

"1. I think a few points should be made about the NFL’s decision to play a 2024 regular-season game in Sao Paolo, Brazil:

 

The NFL is considering playing the Sao Paolo game in week one. Kickoff weekend is early this year—Sept. 5-9—because Labor Day is Sept. 2. Because the restrictions on interfering with Friday-night high-school games and Saturday college-football games don’t take effect until the second full weekend of September, the NFL could schedule a game on Friday night, Sept. 6, or Saturday the 7th. So it won’t be a surprise if the Sao Paolo game becomes part of a Thursday doubleheader, or a Thursday, Friday or Saturday standalone game—with the Super Bowl champ opening the season at home on Sunday night. It’s happened before.

 

It’s a hike to get to Sao Paolo. The game is likely to feature an NFC home team, because NFC teams have nine home games in 2024. Say the home team is Dallas. It’s a 10-hour, 10-minute flight from Dallas to Sao Paolo, which means a team likely would want to spend either a week there or most of a week before playing a game.

 

Miami is the only team that currently has made Brazil an international home marketing area, part of the NFL programs to increase individual teams’ profiles in foreign countries. So it would be logical to think the Dolphins would be one of the teams in Sao Paolo—except that the team flew nine hours to Frankfurt to play Kansas City this year. The league may want to showcase other teams in Brazil, and it’s likely that Miami would have to volunteer to go given it just went to Germany. If Miami is one of the teams, the Dolphins have three road games against NFC teams in 2024: Rams, Seahawks, and the parallel finisher in the NFC North. So maybe that team is Detroit.

 

Why Sao Paolo instead of other places? It’s the biggest city in South America (not just Brazil), with a metro-area population of 21.7 million. (New York City has 18.8 million people.) The stadium, Arena Corinthians, hosted the opener of 2014 World Cup and is nine years old. It has 89 suites and natural ryegrass. The city’s not a natural beauty, but NFL metrics pointed to a huge Brazilian fan base as a big reason why it was chosen for a 2024 game over Spain. That plus there was more enthusiasm inside the league to go somewhere new and intensely interested rather than choosing another site in western Europe. This broadens the league’s international footprint.

 

One last point about logistics: Say the game is played on Thursday of week one. The two teams would likely land back in their home cities sometime around mid-day on Friday. Players theoretically would have Friday night, Saturday, Sunday (and maybe Monday) to fix body clocks before beginning prep work for week two. It’s not too onerous.

 

2. I think my gut feeling is the NFL would be happy with Dolphins-Lions sometime on kickoff weekend in Brazil."

 

[GETTOTHE50]

I think the international stuff is pretty cool.

 

don’t get me wrong, I hate it when the bills get hosed and lose a home game off of it.

 

their long term goals are probably something we won’t get to see in our lifetimes, but it would be rad to see nfl leagues all over the world and then there be a World Cup Super Bowl like thing. Maybe that’s the first championship the bills will win haha 

[Freddie's Dead]

On 12/12/2023 at 5:19 PM, chongli said:

Brail is two hours earlier than Eastern Time. They do not observe Daylight Saving Time, so early in the season they are only one hour ahead of Eastern Time. Perfect for a late DH game here in the US.

 

Game might involve the Dolphins as Muami has a huge ex-pat population from Brazil.

 

Miami plays Jacksonville next year, as do we. But all AFC teams only have eight home games next year, so it would have to be Miami at an NFC team probably.

 

This^^^, no big time change.  Bills leave Buffalo at 3AM, land, go to the stadium, kick some ass, fly home.  Day trip.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

2 minutes ago, Freddie's Dead said:

 

This^^^, no big time change.  Bills leave Buffalo at 3AM, land, go to the stadium, kick some ass, fly home.  Day trip.

Pack extra peanuts for the plane trip.  They usually charter on Delta; Delta always trying to curry favour with extra bribes of peanuts. 🤨

[T master]

On 12/12/2023 at 4:15 PM, Nextmanup said:

KILL ME NOW.

 

The day will come when there is NFL on every day/night of the week...and the players' health will be the least of the league's concerns.

 

And they will make it an international sport, if they can.

 

 

 

True & who are the only fans that will suffer by losing home games and the revenue from those games  ? American fans and their venues . 

 

The only game i washed this year that wasn't on American soil was the Bills game in London & i wish i wouldn't have ! 

 

They can keep their soccer games in all those other countries but leave my NFL football right here at home !! Which seeing as money is the driving factor it is bound to change just like you have said and become a international sport .